HELP! Back-to-back books I didn't enjoy. I need recommendations!

Nobody expects a Romance or Chick-Lit novel to be an extraordinary work of fiction. I read them to escape - I'm easily entertained. I can find something redeeming in almost everything I read. But I'm in a dilemma...I recently read two books that I didn't enjoy. With trying to write a new novel, working full time and a family and house to take care of, I don't have a whole lot of free time. I love reading and also love sharing the great books I find. It's my escape. But what do I do when I get back-to-back stinkers?

I guess it wouldn't be bothering me so much if there had been even the slightest inkling that these books were sub-par. There wasn't. I often base my own book-buying decisions on fellow reader reviews and these were 100% "this is a great book". Maybe that should have been a red flag...not everyone is going to like every book and sometimes it's the dissenting views that lure me to buy. Now, one of them wasn't necessarily a bad book, just tedious and boring. And that one might just be my own reading preference. The other was actually painful to read though - confusing tenses, repeated misuse of words, unbelievable dialog, missing words, poor sentence structure - in addition to being a mediocre storyline. All around, it was a BAD book.

The world doesn't need any more negativity, so I'm going to write them off as a waste of my time and move on. I suppose I'm just disappointed because they both sounded so good from the blurbs and reviews. And they had wonderful covers (I love covers).

My own advice to fellow voracious readers: SAMPLE, SAMPLE, SAMPLE! Amazon makes it so easy. I would have passed on both of these had I taken the time to download a sample or check out the Look Inside feature. Lesson learned.

Now that I've thrown my tantrum, any suggestions on a GREAT book you've read recently? (Not your own, please.) I'm on a Chick-Lit kick, but Romantic Suspense could be fun as well. I'm also trying to keep within a budget, so the latest Janet Evanovich is going to have to wait. I hope the rest of you are reading something fabulous! If you are, I want to know what it is...

~Heidi